Do you level up too high?

[Lightning Hunter]

Does anyone else here find many RPG games too easy to level up in? Maybe it's because I started playing RPG games with the first Dragon Warrior, which required hours of leveling up to progress anywhere - because I always level up way too high.

I'm currently playing through FFVII for the first time. I just got to the Temple of the Ancients (almost at the end of Disk 1), and already Cloud is at level 40. I didn't even try to level up this high. I've even fled from hundreds of battles to stop characters from leveling up too high, but I'm still leveling more than I want. This results in the game being much too easy. I hate when RPG games are not a challenge! Probably the main reason I have this problem is because I always like to spend time in each area to see all the monsters, steal from all the monsters, manipulate all the monsters, etc.

Who else out here has the same issue with RPG games?